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Diplomats owe $18M in parking tickets

By Ryan Chatelain | ryan.chatelain@am-ny.com

6:58 PM EDT, June 25, 2008

Parking sign on E. 42nd St. near the United Nations. (Jefferson Siegel / June 25, 2008)

More than a decade after Mayor Rudy Giuliani declared war on diplomatic scofflaws over unpaid parking tickets, the city is still owed more than $18 million, leaving many New Yorkers enraged.

"They should pay," said Carmen Mercer, 35, of Bedford-Stuyvesant, standing outside a midtown DMV office. "Everybody else has to pay. It comes with the responsibility of having a car."

Deadbeat nations are clearly in no rush to pay off their debts, the vast majority of which were incurred before a 2002 agreement provided more parking spaces for them. That deal has cut the number of new tickets issued by 94 percent and helped lower the total owed to the city from more than $21 million.

Nevertheless, the total owed has been stuck at $18 million since at least 2005. Some 175 countries are to blame for the missing pot of money, with Egypt and Kuwait leading the list of offenders.

Officials at the Egyptian consulated declined to comment and calls to the Kuwaiti embassy in Washington were not returned.

Meanwhile, the mayor's office would only say in an e-mail that it "is still seeking to recover the money still owed to the city. While the old parking ticket revenue is important, we are more focused on collecting money from unpaid property taxes on non-diplomatic uses of their consular properties."

Last year, the city went to the U.S. Supreme Court over property taxes owed by Mongolia and India. The justices ruled that foreign nations are not immune to paying all real estate taxes. As of March, countries owed the city $57.6 million in taxes.

To help ensure the payment of parking fines, the State Department can revoke consular license plates and withhold foreign aid for the amount the city is owed. In September 2002, it opted to strip 30 nations of 185 plates. Agency officials yesterday did not return a call seeking comment.

City Councilman Eric Gioia (D-Queens) said it's time for envoys to pay up.

"Diplomats need to abide by the same traffic and parking laws that all New Yorkers have to follow - and not skip out on the check when they break them," he said. "The city is owed an enormous amount of money; it's time for the city to collect."

However, many nations still believe they should have diplomatic immunity.

"The U.N. makes a lot of money for the United States," said Cecilia, a diplomat from Togo who declined to give her last name. "In the diplomatic law, they don't have to pay."

Kathleen Bulson and Simone Herbin contributed to this story.